How China became Russia's economic lifeline
Hot on the heels of Donald Trump's visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin travels to Beijing for talks with Xi Jinping. DW explores how China's trade
Hot on the heels of Donald Trump's visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin travels to Beijing for talks with Xi Jinping. DW explores how China's trade and financial support is helping keep Russia's economy afloat. Russia may celebrate its "no-limits" partnership with China — a phrase coined when President Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met just before the Ukraine war — yet those relations are increasingly one-sided. Although bilateral trade softened last year as a result of lower oil prices, Russia’s goods exports to China have nearly doubled since February 2022, when Moscow's full-scale invasion began. In 2024, Russia shipped roughly $129 billion (€111 billion) worth of goods to China — the overwhelming majority in crude oil, coal and natural gas sold at steep discounts. The Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air calculated that China has bought more than €319 billion ($372 billion) of Russian fossil fuels since the conflict began, giving Moscow vital hard currency to fund its military amid Western sanctions. In return, China exported nearly $116 billion worth of goods to Russia in 2024, supplying machinery, electronics and vehicles that replaced Western suppliers who exited the Russian market. Although Beijing has stopped short of direct exports to Russia of finished military hardware, China has supplied billions of dollars' worth of dual-use goods — civilian products and technologies that also have military applications. These have also helped sustain Russia’s defense industry. As Putin and Xi prepare to meet in Beijing this week for high-level talks — timed to mark the 25th anniversary of the two countries' cooperation treaty— this growing imbalance leaves Moscow increasingly vulnerable to Beijing’s priorities.
China and Russia: A partnership of equals? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Why is Russia increasingly reliant on Chinese technology? Western sanctions, imposed since 2022 and repeatedly tightened, have severed Russia’s access to advanced Western technology. The United States, European Union, United Kingdom and allies banned exports of semiconductors, microelectronics, precision machine tools and other dual-use goods critical for weapons production. These moves created acute shortages in Russia. In response, Moscow turned to China, which, according to Bloomberg, supplied roughly 90% of Russia’s sanctioned technology imports in 2025 — up from 80% the previous year. Obtaining goods like machine tools for missile and drone assembly is far more difficult and expensive than before the war. Russia must utilize complex evasion networks through third countries and often ends up paying premiums of nearly 90% above pre-war prices. Beijing has also provided Russia with earth observation intelligence, satellite imagery for military purposes and drones, Bloomberg reported last year. Chinese technology has enabled Russia to sustain and even expand its production of missiles, drones and other weapons, keeping the war economy running. Russia and China now conduct most of their trade in the yuan or ruble Image: Dmitri Lovetsky/AP/picture alliance Why are Russia, China conducting more trade in yuan? As the Ukraine war unfolded, the US, EU, and allies expelled major Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system and froze approximately $300 billion of Russia’s central bank reserves held abroad. This effectively weaponized the dollar-dominated financial system against the Kremlin, making dollar or euro transactions risky or impossible.
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